These Circumstances
by RedNovember
Summary: [ZK] One Prince. One Waterbender. One deserted island. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

**One: Unintended**

One moment, she was drifting through the stalls in the marketplace, searching for food to last the group through the week. Sokka's appetite was never-ending, and Aang was a growing boy.

The next moment, the Prince of the Fire Nation was staring at her from the end of the street, shouting something she couldn't hear above the hubbub of the market.

So she did the only thing she could. She ran.

She dropped her purchases, vegetables and fruits and breads tumbling into a wasted heap on the ground. She elbowed and kneed and forced her way through the crowd, ignoring cries of protests and angry faces.

A column of flame narrowly missed her, and she knew he was catching up.

She caught sight of the blue water of the harbor, and the metal ship that belonged to him. Why hadn't she noticed it before? How could she have been so careless? Where were Aang and Sokka?

Darting into a side shop, (a sign proclaimed: _Extremiely Interisting Things of Extremie Intireste_) she hovered behind the door, breath comming in harsh pants. The store owner was gone; probably in a back room getting drunk. Reaching behind her, she picked up the first thing she touched. A good-sized stone figurine, its surface paint almost oily in the dim light of the shop. It had cold ruby eyes; she shivered as she ran her hand over it, trying to get a good grip on the surface. It almost seemed like it was _trying_ to slip from her hands-

Then the Prince's scarred face was in the doorframe, scowling and a punch aiming towards her-

She ran forward, slammed the figurine into his stomach.

With a painful grunt, he pitched forward, one arm futilely grasping for the nearest solid object, which happened to be _her_. They went down together, disrupting all matters of knick-knacks and statues and ugly toys.

Trying to clear the ringing pain in her head from the impact, Katara looked up, and saw his fist coming towards her face - she picked up the ruby-eyed figurine, raising it to protect herself -

The fire from his hand impacted with the cold statue, and there was a brilliant flash, illuminating his face, her face, the world-

Everything went black.

* * *

**A/N:** Let me explain what this is going to be. In modern terms, something along a C+ romantic-comedy. Something completely different from LTE and THATP because I dunno about you, but that angst sure gets me down sometimes. I need relief. I want to try a different style I'm not going for records here, or epic war story. I'm going to write it between working on LTE, when I need a break or a 30 second vacation along those lines.

There is no guarantee this story is going to be remotely funny. Just mildly entertaining. Each chapter is going to be extremely short, quick, to the point. No more than a thousand words per chap, I'm guessing.

And before you jump me, Zutara it is. But light, cheap Zutara. Affordably priced for your average shipper.


	2. Chapter 2

**Two: Dinner**

"I can't believe this," said Katara. "I can't believe this is happening to me."

Zuko opened his eyes to the blazing heat and prickly, uncomfortable feeling of sand in his clothes. He dimly noticed he was on his back, limbs splayed out in every which direction, soggy wet cloth clinging to his body. He could feel the waves lapping at his feet.

Then he realized he wasn't breathing. There was something in his lungs, sloshing about in his rib cage.

"I can't believe it," she repeated.

He squinted, and could see her standing above him, her head blocking out the sun. He still couldn't breathe. This was quickly becoming quite worrisome.

"I can't believe I'm stuck on this island with nobody but you."

Zuko rolled over onto his stomach, and threw up.

----

"What do you mean, there's _nobody_ else on this island?"

She looked straight in the eye. "I mean, there's _nobody_ else on this island."

"You're lying," he snarled, and stalked off, pushing through low brushes and firmly disbelieving her words.

"Fine," Katara called from behind him. "You're wasting your energy. I've already searched this miniscule lump of rock, and I've found nothing."

"I don't believe you." His voiced faded as he disappeared into the trees.

She sighed and slumped back down on the sand, back against a prickly trunk. Pig-headed idiot. See if she cared what he did.

----

Two hours later, he was back, a menacing glare plastered on his face. He pressed closer.

"_What did you do?_"

"You think _I_ put us here?"

"_What did you do?_" he repeated, not backing down.

"You think I _want_ to be stuck here with you?"

"It's a trick," he spat. "You brought me here to—to distract me from the Avatar. To prevent me from regaining my honor."

"I may care about Aang," she replied coldly, "but I care about your honor less than I care about where my shit goes once I'm through with it."

He backed away, and she felt a slight sense of relief when their respectable proximities were established once again.

"You threw that statue at my head," he narrowed his eyes, trying to remember. "And then something exploded, and now we're here."

"I was trying to protect myself! You threw one of your fire-whatchamacallits at the weird statue, and _that's_ what got us here."

"Are you implying that this is all my fault?"

"Well it certainly isn't mine!"

He snorted. "You're flattering yourself if you think I purposely chose to come to this island with _you_."

She bristled. "I think all that seawater in your lungs somehow migrated to your brain, causing a breakdown of what little reasoning skills you _do_ possess."

"I am perfectly sane."

"That's debatable."

He glared. She glared.

The sun's harsh noon light beat down on the two sole inhabitants of the island.

----

Something hard cracked onto Zuko's skull and he jumped up, swearing profusely. A round, fuzzy brown thing lay at his feet. He picked it up, staring at it suspiciously.

"Sorry," said Katara, high in the tree above him. He thought she didn't sound particularly apologetic.

"What the heck is this?" he asked, rubbing his head.

"A coconut."

"What?"

"Food."

_That_ he could understand. He turned it around in his hands, trying to find an opening. It didn't look edible.

She leapt from the tree, landing next to him before taking the 'coconut' from his hands. "Like this, idiot," and she cracked the coconut against a stony rock. It split into uneven halves, dripping milky-white liquid onto the sand. She handed one half to him.

He took it gingerly, watching the white milk from inside spill onto the ground.

Katara grabbed it from him furiously. "You're wasting it! You're supposed to _drink_ the inside!" And proceeded to demonstrate with her own.

Zuko looked at the juice suspiciously. It didn't look very appetizing, but the Waterbender girl had drank it too, so she probably wasn't trying to poison him.

He took a small sip, and was delighted to find the thin, sweet taste good on his tongue. Not so bad. He was disappointed when he finished, since he'd dumped more than half of his onto the sand during his previous confusion with the 'coconut'.

Then she proceeded to begin chewing on the inside.

How barbaric, he thought. He took out his own knife, and carved out chunks of the white fruit.

"Can I borrow that?" she asked, pointing at his knife.

"No," he answered readily, intent on his own dinner.

"What?"

"I said no."

"Why not?" her tone was one of extreme annoyance.

"Because I don't trust you with it."

"You think I'm going to stab you to death as soon as I have it in my hands?" she said, sarcasm obvious.

"Yes." His answer was plain and simple.

She recoiled and stared at him. "Are you serious?"

He nodded. "Besides, my uncle gave me this knife for my birthday. It's made of the finest quality metal, and crafted by a master artisan."

Katara continued to gape. "So _you_ can use a special knife to carve up coconut, and I can't?"

"Yes."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and with one swipe, she knocked his coconut out of his hands and onto the sand. Zuko stared helplessly as the white chunks he'd so painstakingly carved out rolled across the grainy sand, turning brown and inedible.

"What the hell?" he hissed.

Katara stomped away, back towards the waterfront.

"Hey!" he yelled after her angrily. "Hey! You owe me another one!"

"Get your own damn coconut!" was her parting call.

* * *

**A/N:** Yay reviews! 

This sort of has a plot but not really. Just interaction, character relationship development. The usual good stuff.


	3. Chapter 3

**Three: Nighttime**

"My uncle will be coming for me soon," Zuko said confidently. They were both sitting on the beach they'd found themselves washed up on, quite a distance apart from each other.

"Aang and my brother will be coming for _me_ soon," Katara replied, with just as much, if not more, self-assurance in her voice. The sun was setting, a red glow lighting the sea afire as the tide steadily dropped away.

Zuko cast her a withering look. "My uncle is probably incredibly worried about me. He's most likely already searching for my whereabouts."

Katara tilted her nose haughtily into the air. "Aang and Sokka were searching for me the minute they found out I was lost."

"My uncle's probably pushing my ship at top speed now. It can cover extremely large distances when at full power."

"A flying bison," she paused for dramatic effect, "is an incredibly fast-moving animal. Appa could beat a wimpy toy boat _any_ day of the week-"

"_Toy boat_?"

"Yeah, that's what I said, a _wimpy _toy boat-"

"As if that furry behemoth of yours could _ever_ compare to my-"

"You're just scared, and you know it-"

"OW!"

Katara glanced up as Zuko snatched his hand back from the scuttling advances of a three-eyed crab. He grimaced at his throbbing fingers, and standing up, angrily kicked the crab back towards the receding waves.

Darting forward, Katara scooped up the dazed crab by picking it up from behind, avoiding the sharp claws that had caused Zuko so much pain.

"What are you doing?" he asked, trying to move his fingers without wincing.

"This," she raised the wiggling crab high in the air, and felt a tiny bit of malicious satisfaction as the Prince recoiled slightly, "is a very high source of protein and extremely tasty if steamed just the right way."

----

Zuko watched silently from the edge of the clearing as Katara scuttled back and forth, piling up fallen branches and dry leaves at the center. The crab, which she had stoned to death earlier, lay on a rock near the edge of the heap.

She finished, eyeing her work with obvious satisfaction while brushing her hands off.

"Now all we need is some fire," she said.

Zuko gave her a blank look.

"Well?" she prodded.

"Well what?" he asked, playing along.

The Water tribe girl placed her hands on her hips angrily. "Are you a Firebender or not?"

The Prince smirked. "Say please."

She gaped at him. "What?"

"Etiquette and polite manners are the representatives of a civilized person," he said, obviously enjoying himself. "Now say it."

Katara gave him a look, a look of such rage and _hatred_ that Zuko considered taking back his words for the briefest of moments.

But only the briefest.

They stood there, facing each other, her arms crossed over her chest, his smirk planted firmly on his face.

Then she uncrossed her arms, lifted the sides of her blue robe, and sank in a graceful mockery of a lady's curtsy, all the while her eyes fixated on his face. "Please."

And somehow, she had managed to turn the entire situation around, and _he_ ended up feeling like the one being humilliated.

"Good enough," he snapped, before lettting loose a burst of flame that was perhaps a bit larger and more forceful than necessary. He felt his smirk grow as she leapt back from the fire, clearly disturbed by the intensity of it all.

Giving him a wary look, she bent down and gingerly prodded the crab into the fire with a stick.

He wondered what would happen if he picked up a stick and attempted to push _her_ into the fire.

Annoying little twit.

----

Katara licked her slightly burned fingers when she finished with the crab, sighing happily. Seafood was her favorite. Pushing through the remains of her meal to see if she had missed any bits, she valiantly tried to ignore the disconcerting gaze of the golden-eyed Prince sitting across the fire from her. His constant stare was at first annoying, then disturbing.

He had refused her offer to share the crab with him.

Fine, she'd thought to herself. More for me. He can starve to death for all I care.

The Prince muttered something she didn't quite catch.

"What was that?" she asked.

He muttered it again.

"_What?_"

"I said, I called you a barbarian," he retorted, finally speaking up.

She was surprised at first, then shook it off. "At least I have the brains to know that food is necessary to my survival."

He rolled his eyes. How immature.

"And when _you_," she continued, pushing an empty crab claw aside, "are going insane from starvation, and come crawling to me, frothing at the mouth, pleading and begging for food, _who's_ going to be the barbarian then?"

"I'll die before I beg you for anything," he snapped back.

"We'll see," she said. "We'll see."

----

Night had fully descended, cloaking the small forest on the island in darkness. Settling down with his back to the fire, Zuko hoped to Agni that his uncle would come tomorrow. If he spent one more day with this insane Waterbender girl, he would go berserk.

Grunting as he lay down on a hard rock, he yanked it out from under him and threw it over his shoulder. He heard it land somewhere in the leafy bushes.

"Watch where you're throwing things," came _her_ voice from the other side of the slowly dying fire. "You almost gave me a concussion there."

He gritted his teeth and said nothing. Why, oh _why_ couldn't he have actually hit her head and given her an actual reason to nag at him? Even better, knock her out for a few hours; it would keep her mouth shut.

Please come, he begged his uncle silently. Please come and deliver me from _this_.

----

Katara wiggled on the ground, trying to get into a comfortable position. With the coming of night, the air had gotten steadily chillier and chillier. The fire had plenty of warmth, but it frightened her, being so close to it. She'd rather put up with the cold than risk being burned alive.

But, oh, it was _cold_. She had no sleeping bag, no warm fur coat. Just her thin robe.

There's always body heat, a small voice in her head reminded her of the lessons her old tribe had taught her in order to prevent freezing to death. Get people to sleep together in extreme cold, and you'd keep each other alive by merely emitting warmth.

That Prince probably had body heat to spare-

Katara caught the thought as it began to form in her mind.

Prince Zuko?

Sharing body heat?

Haha.

Ha.

_Ha.

* * *

_**A/N: **Hopefully they were both more in character this chapter. Maybe three of you mentioned Katara's "language" in the last one, and I'm sorry. It is bad writing when I let my own vulgarity show through and affect the characters.

Chapter 15 of LTE is halfway done. I wrote chapter three of _this_ story on the bus home from school; that's why it came up so fast. I'm glad you're liking it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Four: Separation**

Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation woke up the next morning cold and stiff. He stretched, and grimaced at the nasty taste in his mouth. It felt like his teeth had grown fur overnight.

Glancing over, he noticed that the Waterbender girl was gone. The spot she'd previously occupuied during the night was empty, only a small patch of light dirt left behind to signify that she'd been here earlier. He stood up, trying to stretch out all of the kinks in his body that came from sleeping on the cold, hard ground.

Where was she? He frowned. The island wasn't so big; there wasn't a single place on it where she could hide from him. Unless...

A panic seized him. Perhaps her rescuers had arrived in the middle of the night, and she'd departed from this godforsaken island? Leaving him behind, all alone?

He began to run, crashing through the bushes towards the beach, thinking to himself that the only thing worse than being stuck on an island with _her_ was being stuck on an island by himself-

Prince Zuko broke through the underbrush, almost stumbling on the sand dunes. He straightened before falling over, and panting, glanced up to scan the beachfront.

There she was. A slight blue figure on her hands and knees, digging through the wet sand at the tideline. She looked up and saw him. He must have looked quite a sight to her; panicked expression, rumpled clothing, heaving breath.

"What?" she said, turning back to her grubbing, "Had a nightmare, your Majesty?"

Her tone sounded particularly nasty.

Zuko narrowed his eyes. "No," he snapped back, "I just had to- just had to- "

Katara finally sat back on her heels, wiping a strand of hair from her face, and leaving a streak of dirt across her forehead. His eyes lingered there, the dark grains of sand contrasting against her golden skin. She gave him a look, up and down. "What, missed me?"

"No!" Zuko snapped back, just as nastily. "I said I had to-"

"Pee?"

"_No!_"

She lifted one eyebrow. "Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

He was beyond words. Zuko made some kind of noise, a sort of inarticulate growl, and whirled around, stomping back into the forest.

Damn her. Damn her and her... her _impertinence!_

_----_

Shaking her head, Katara bent back down into the sandy hole she'd dug this morning and scrabbling at the side, plucked out another clam. She already had a pile next to her, accumulated during the early hours of dawn and silence. It was her breakfast.

And, she thought to herself grumpily, if that spoiled little Prince happened to be wanting any nourishment this morning, then he was going to get on his knees and _beg_ her. She wasn't going to be giving out food like she could afford it- she barely had enough for herself as it was. If he wasn't going too contribute to this back-breaking, dirty work, then he wasn't going to be gettin' any.

Deciding this was enough, Katara piled the hard seafood into the lap of her skirt, and stood up clumsily, her legs cramped and bent. Stumbling only a little bit, she made her way back to the little clearing where she and the Prince had spent last night.

He was there when she arrived, leaning sullenly against a tree. Katara ignored him as she knelt down, piling the clams next to the ashes of the campfire. Finishing clearing her dress, she looked up at the Prince. He glared back.

"I'll give you a clam if you light this fire for me," she said, trying to negotiate some kind of truce.

Zuko scoffed at her offer. "I don't need your nasty _clams_."

Katara bristled, angry that she'd tried to make peace with him and been rejected so badly. "Fine. You can just starve to death, then."

He smirked back. "And you can just eat those _raw_."

Katara lost it. "You do understand what our situtation is, yes?"

"Of _course_ I understand, what do you think I am, stupid-"

She cut him off. "You do understand that we are stuck on a deserted island with nobody but each other, and that to survive until rescue arrives, if it ever _does_, we will have to cooperate, however an unlikely idea it seems?"

"You are asking _me_, a Prince of the Fire nation, to cooperate with a dirty little Water peasant like yourself?"

A definite no, then.

Katara gave him a tight smile. "Alright. So that's how it's going to be."

He gave her a triumphant nod.

She stood up, pointing one shaking finger in his direction. "Then you, you can just leave."

He laughed in her face. "Leave? And where would I be leaving _to_?"

"Get out!" she shrieked, voice ringing in his ears. "This is _my_ clearing! I found it, I built the campfire, I dug up the clams- this is _mine_!"

"Have it your way," he snarled, turning on his heel to leave for the opposite end of the island. "I, personally, will have a much better day if I never see your face again."

----

When he left, Katara let her trembling arm drop and she sank to the ground. She determinedly poked at the ashes of the fire, trying to find a still-glowing ember, but to no avail. All of them were dead, gray, ashy clumps of useless charcoal.

Her shoulders drooped in defeat. Times like this, she _almost_ wished she was a Firebender. Almost.

But not , she thought angrily to herself, if she would end up like the Prince: a temperamental, selfish little bastard.

There was no other option. Picking up a rock to break open the first of the clams, she closed her eyes and pinched her nose as the gooey inside slid down her throat. She almost gagged as the tasteless rawness slimed over her tongue and into her stomach. Utterly revolting and disgusting, but it was food. And she would need her wits about her until Aang and Sokka arrived to rescue her.

----

That night, they slept apart. Katara next to the ashy remains of he campfire, empty clam shells littering the ground next to her. Prince Zuko picked a spot on the beach, grumpily scraping out a small hollow in the sand for his body.

Katara shivered and was afraid of the encroaching shadows made by the moving, whispering leaves of the forest. Zuko had a nightmare that the ocean rose up and flooded the island, drowning him while Katara swam safely to a distant shore.

Neither of them was comfortable, and neither of them slept much at all.

----

By noon of the next day, Prince Zuko was almost in pain from the hunger clenching his insides. He'd already broken open and swallowed down a multitude of coconuts, leaving empty shells scattered along the beach. But just thinking about drinking down another sickly sweet coconut made him want to gag. It'd gotten so bad that he would have gladly gulped down a whole pot of Iroh's tea if his uncle had offered him any.

By mid-afternoon of the third day, he was stumbling between forest and beach, hungry beyond all possibility. Having thrown up after eating his last coconut, the plentiful brown fruit was out of the question. He'd resorted to digging for clams like that Waterbender girl, glancing behind him furtively to make sure she wasn't watching him. He must have been doing something wrong, for he found nothing, and ended up wasting an hour's worth of energy on this venture for food. He was thirsty as well; there was no source of freshwater on the island, and the salty seawater was undrinkable. Coconut juice- he gagged just thinking about it.

By evening of the fourth day, he was in a hallucinatory daze. He wandered into the forest, getting lost, and in the end, grabbing a succulent, leafy green bush and stuffing the bitter leaves into his mouth. He pretended it was something else; a salad perhaps, or other vegetable. He had no experience with identifying edible plants in the wild, and so had absolutely no idea what he had just eaten. Zuko was just desperate to negate the gnawing hunger in his stomach, and continued to pluck, stuff, chew, and swallow.

By midnight he was throwing up his guts.

----

Katara watched from the shadows of the forest as Zuko, Royal Prince of the Fire Nation, looked like he was trying to vomit his internal organs from his body onto the beach. She grimaced as his horrible retching noises echoed through the night. He was on his hands and knees, bent over in the soft moonlight, his body shuddering convulsively with every heave.

It only took her a second to make her decision. She hated him, yes. She wanted him to stop hunting Aang, yes. She definitely wished she wasn't stuck on this island with him, yes.

But he was a human being, no?

She strode purposefully from the greenery towards his shivering figure on the beach.

----

Zuko felt a small hand rubbing warm circles on his back as he threw up the last of what seemed like his entire stomach. A horrible burning sensation filled his throat and mouth before he collapsed onto his back, darkness encroaching at the edges of his vision. He had one last glimpse of a worried, blue-eyed face before he lost all consciousness.

----

* * *

**A/N:** For all of those who are wondering about the status of LTE... I'm having a decidedly hard time writing the next chapter. It's definitely more... complicated than previous ones. It's hard. But I will come through for you, I promise.

**how long does it take for you to get home? --Zukos Girl**  
Um about an hour, so I try to be productive and do a little something during that time

**I remember the first time I had a coconut...I was in Taiwan. --XX Painful Bliss XX**  
EEEK! You've been to Taiwan? Taiwan is my homeland, yo. I was born there and lived there for a long time. English is my second language. XD

**Makes ya wish ya were stranded on a deserted island with a certain Firebender... --Patricia**  
Mmm... glad to know I'm not the only one who's had that fantasy. XD


	5. Chapter 5

**Five: A Team?**

He had small flashes of occasional consciousness:

First there was blessed coolness, on his forehead and then his face (does she think scar ugly?) and neck.

Then a soft voice in his ear, asking him if it wasn't too much trouble, if it was still possible, could he maybe light a small fire? Just a small one, to help heat this water-

He dimly remembered raising one arm in the general direction she indicated, and trying so hard to summon the tiniest bit of energy, of precious heat; it must have worked because then she said yes that's it thank you so much.

A small hand behind his head, lifting his mouth up to drink something from a fuzzy brown shell, disgusting taste, indignant voice saying it's good for you! drink it!

It must have worked because the headache cleared and the darkness came again.

----

"Where were you?" he croaked, barely understandable. He was lying in the sand on his back, blinking groggily in the sunlight.

She stood over him, holding something in her hands. "Finally awake?"

"Where were you?"

Was it the sickness, she wondered, or did the Prince normally have such a one-track mind?

Probably the second option, what with his I Must Capture The Avatar crusade. Didn't he ever take a break?

"I bet you missed me," she replied, settling onto the sand next to him.

Zuko coughed before saying softly, "I got worried—"

Her eyebrows rose.

"—that maybe you were sick, or lost, or hurt—"

Was this the fever talking?

"—leaving me on this fucking island by myself with nobody to feed me."

She dropped the coconut shell filled with water on his face. "Whoops."

He sputtered and choked, some of the water having gone up his nose. "Hey!"

"You are a rude, unappreciative—"

"Where'd you get the fresh water?"

Katara stopped in the middle of her creative insult to roll her eyes. "I'm a Waterbender, you jerk. Don't you think I would have figured something out by now?"

He glared at her. "You mean, I was wandering this island for three days, dying of thirst, and you were being a selfish child and keeping all the drinkable water for yourself?"

She felt a stir of guilt before lifting her chin and glaring back. "Hey. I offered to cooperate. You refused and got what you deserved."

"So why'd you come back and _help_ me?" he spat out. "I'm your worst enemy! Why would a Waterbender ever help a Firebender?"

"Because you are a human being before you are a Firebender."

He had no answer for that, so he satisfied himself with turning his face away from her, towards the blue waves of the ocean.

"You know, this changes nothing between us," he lied through his teeth.

"Of course," she lied back.

----

"So this is what will happen," Zuko said. He'd finally felt well enough to get up and walk again. "You give me food and water, and I'll give you fire."

She pursed her lips. "Seems like I'm getting the worse end of the deal. I give two, and recieve only one?"

"Fine," he rolled his eyes, "if you're going to be so picky, then I guess I'll—Um, I'll protect you!"

"From what, falling coconuts?"

He bristled, angry that his hard-thought offer had been shot down so quickly. "No! From—from wild animals!"

Silence.

Not even a fucking bird chirp.

"... right," she said, picking up and beginning to walk away towards the forest. "Whatever. As long as you don't kill me on accident, I guess it's the best _you_ have to offer."

"Take it or leave it," he grumbled, following her. "You know you need the fire."

"Who says I _need_ your stupid fire?"

"How'd you enjoy your raw clams?"

She turned back, indignant look on her face. "They were _quite_ tasty, thank you very much."

"I'm sure they were, if you're used to eating things like slimey, slippery, tasteless lumps of seafood—"

"They were not tasteless!" she shot back, "slimey, yes, but they were salty and very filling." She smirked at him, one hand on her hip. "Which is more than _you_ can probably say for your poisonous bush leaves."

"Slightly bitter, yes, but hardly poisonous—"

"Nobody vomits all over the beach like you did after eating _bitter_ leaves," she said, and walking away from him again, snapped off a thin branch. "The juice from the Luoze plant is highly toxic, you know."

"Now I do," he muttered, then gave her a look as she bent down to pick up a rock with a sharp edge from the ground. She began to calmly scrape off the bark on one end of her stick, making it into a point. "What are you doing with that?"

"I'm going to spear you in your sleep," she rolled her eyes.

"I'd like to see you _try_—"

"I'm going fishing, you idiot."

----

Zuko watched from the beach, arms crossed over his chest, as Katara slowly waded out into the water, primitive spear in hand.

"It's not going to work," he called after her, for the hundredth time. "you're just going to scare them all away."

She didn't reply, and as soon as she was waist-deep in the water, stood stock-still with the wooden spear hovering over the waves.

Zuko waited.

Katara didn't move.

The heat from the sun began to glint off the water into his eyes. He put a hand over his forehead to shade his sight, and squinting, saw that she was still in that same position.

He sat down on the sand, taking off his metal armor. Damn it was _hot_.

Zuko was about to call to Katara to tell her to give it up already, when she _moved_, spear diving into the waves, body tense with contained energy. He squinted harder, standing up in a rush. There was something silvery moving at the end of her weapon, underwater. A fish, possibly?

Then a _snap_ filled the air; all of a sudden, Katara was holding a broken spear, eyes widening in horror as a gigantic maw filled with sharp teeth and one bloody half of a spearhead rose out of the water straight at her.

She screamed.

----

Katara was frozen. One second she'd thought she'd caught herself a good dinner, and the next she was facing a cavern of wickedly sharp teeth. Her weapon was broken; useless. She tried to bend a water whip, anything to distract the horrid monster but it was coming straight for her—no time—I'm too young to die!

Then that Prince was in front of her, silver knife swiping through the air, cutting through one of the fish-monster's fins, eliciting a horrible roar and groan. Blinded by pain, it charged at them, bloody mouth open and gaping. Teeth shining, it snapped, catching the Prince across one shoulder.

Zuko snarled at the pain, then pushed her back with one arm, and with the other, sent a stream of fire straight into that wide mouth, blackening the inside. The monster reared, trying to escape the burning heat. Zuko continued after it, sending blasts at the parts of the monster above water, until it finally let out a moan of defeat, sliding noisily back underwater and out to sea.

----

They sloughed tiredly back to shore, drained of adrenaline and clumsy in their movements. He was still gripping her upper arm, trying to pull them both back before one of them collapsed.

"Just... just thought it was a big fish," she gasped, finally reaching the sandy beach. "looked like it would give us a lot to eat... didn't know... monster."

"Yeah, well," Zuko snapped, "look closer next time." They collapsed onto the bright sand, panting.

Katara glanced over at him next to her, and noticed the seeping wound in his shoulder. "That looks like it hurts."

He met her gaze for a moment before turning back to stare at the blue sky. "Not so much," he said, inserting a false note of self-confidence in his voice. They were far, far away from any type of civilization, without healers or medicine. What if it got infected...?

A small heartbeat of silence and then: "Thank you," she said softly.

"Told you you would be needing my help," he said gruffly, not meeting her eyes.

"Guess that means I owe you some food now. Or at least help with your shoulder."

Zuko was about to shrug before he caught himself, wincing slightly.

"Come on," she said, rising up from the sand. "Let's go back to the campfire."

----

"Take off your shirt," she said. He was kneeling next to the ashy remains of the fire from their first night here.

He cast her a quick glance while her back was turned. She'd said it without any sort of embarrassment or awkwardness; just polite courtesy and total neutrality. _If you say so_.

Zuko quickly pulled his shirt over his head; it was beginning to tatter at the edges from all the rough treatment and constant wear. He winced as the edge stuck to his wound pulled away from the drying blood. Then he waited for her to turn around. Would she be embarrassed? Awkward? Maybe possibly even... impressed?

When she did turn around and began to poke at his shoulder with her fingers, he heard no reaction. No intake of breath, no sudden flushing of the face.

How... disappointing.

He tried not to show it (So all those back-breaking training exercises with Iroh had been for nothing?)

"Hold still," she said, perfectly calmly. "There's some sand I have to get out."

Zuko held still, shoulders drooping.

He tried not to flinch as her light touch probed the open slash made by the fish-monster's teeth. Then she must have tried to pry out a particularly stubborn grain of sand; he reacted reflexively, snarling in pain and whipping around to snatch her hand away, almost crushing her slender fingers in his grip.

"Watch it!"

She tried to pull away but he wouldn't let go. Zuko was irked; his ego had taken a beating and now the very girl who refused to pay him any of the attention he deserved was trying to carve a hole through his arm.

"Are you going to let me help you?" Katara snapped, wrenching her hand away and nursing her bruisd fingers.

"If you promise not to amputate my arm from my shoulder in the process!"

Her eyes narrowed. "You wimp. It's a _scrape_ from a _fish_. Get over it."

Wimp? Ouch. "You seem to have gotten over it fast, considering you were so scared when the _fish_ attacked you that all you could do was stand there and scream!"

"Then good thing I had _you_ there to protect me, Prince 'I-Can't-Even-Take-A-Flesh-Wound' Zuko!"

A heartbeat, and then: "You think I don't know what pain is?"

Just like that, the previous, mildly serious banter they'd had was gone. Zuko could see her eyes widen in shock, then feel her gaze linger over his scar; his dishonor.

All of a sudden, Zuko regretted taking the conversation towards such a dark subject. He was in a bad mood; that didn't mean he had to bring up darker matters that had no business here in the light of a bright island and a brighter girl.

----

She finished bandaging his shoulder with strips ripped from the hems of both their clothes. Katara sighed inwardly. Her own blue robe was fading from the constant dunking in seawater and beginning to fray and rip at the edges. She sent a silent plea to Aang and Sokka to rescue her before anything drastic happened.

"You're done," she said shortly to the Prince, before rising from the ground. She didn't expect a thank-you and there was none.

In this silence, the Prince lit a small fire when she asked politely, and they ate the baked clams leftover from her previous digging venture. The fire was nice; warm and useful. She sipped a bit of the precious freshwater from one of the coconut half-shells before passing it to Zuko.

He took it with a small nod, drank his share, and set it down on the ground again. "So how did you get the salt out?"

She shrugged. "It took me a few days to figure out, when I got really desperate. I'm not sure how the entire process worked, but I... I guess I _dry_ the salt from the water and this is what's left over."

----

They lay down to sleep later; again, on opposite sides of the slowly dying fire.

Zuko gingerly settled onto the dirt, resting on his unhurt shoulder. He rotated it slightly, and was relieved to find that all the muscles there still worked. He touched the bandage carefully, a medley of blue and red cloth, expertly tied by Katara.

All of a sudden he felt a sudden urging in his throat, in his voice. A need to say something; anything to her, something along the lines of true _gratitude_.

And so he said something that sounded faintly like, "thankooforthahelptooda."

"What?" she asked.

"I said," he took a deep breath. "Thank you for your help today."

He was almost scared when she took a bit of time before answering.

"Wow," she said, slightly hesitant. "I'm surprised it didn't kill you to say that."

"Me too," he grumbled back.

"Well," she said, thoughtfully this time. "You're welcome."

* * *

**A/N:** You lucky biotches! You got two updates in the space of two days; one for LTE and one for this! These chapters keep getting longer even though I promised myself I'd keep them short. Darn. 

FFN is treating me funky—my stats got reset (anyone else?) and my story alerts aren't going out, and neither are my review alerts. It bugs me. Is anybody else having this problem?

**You grew up in Taiwan? What area? - Falke-ness**  
Taipei, capital; but I have relatives all along the island. Um, Tai-Zhong, Jiah-Yi, Ah-Lee-San, and Tai-Nan. (The author's notes for this story are kind of turning into a mini-autobiography. XD)

And thank you to **Dragon Jadefire** for her clarification on the actual goodness of raw clams, or, clams on the half-shell. Muchas gracias.

Thanks for 100 reviews. I remember when I wrote my first story, THATP, it took me until like chapter 9 to get 100. You guys are my internet soul mates.


	6. Chapter 6

**Six: Rainstorm**

When Zuko woke up, it was cold and dark.

And raining.

He sat up from the muddy dirt, looking blindly towards the spot where Katara had fallen asleep. She was already upright, shivering in her own drenched clothes.

"Shit," he said. "What do we do now?"

She shrugged, arms wrapped around herself in an effort to stay warm. "Beats me."

"Isn't there better shelter we could find?"

"_This_," she indicated the sparse canopy of coconut tree fronds above them, "is the extent of our shelter."

Zuko stood up abruptly. "There _has_ to be something better," he said

"No there isn't," she said, staunch in her opinion. "This is it."

He shrugged, and turned to leave their little clearing. "You can sit there and be all helpless but _I'm _going to find someplace drier." Zuko began to walk away, squinting through the darkness. There was the tiniest crack of light at the edge of the horizon, out across the wide sea that kept them imprisoned. They couldn't be more than a few hours away from dawn. Maybe the rain would let up once the sun rose.

With the way their luck was going, that was unlikely.

Then he heard the cracking of wet twigs behind him and turned to see the slightly apprehensive look on Katara's face. "Wait," she said, catching up. "I'm coming with you."

He smirked. "Scared of the dark?"

Katara looked him unashamedly in the face. "Yes."

Zuko was a little surprised that she'd admitted weakness so easily. Something like that could be used against you in the Fire Nation. She was so open with herself. Didn't she know how dangerous it was?

But it did make him feel a little better, that she would choose to stay with him instead of sitting alone in the dark.

He tried to ignore the warm feeling it gave him, that she trusted him enough to go with him on a hopeless hunt for shelter in the rainy night. It meant their relationship was progressing.

Their _non-existant _relationship, Zuko corrected himself. They didn't have a relationship.

They tramped through the tiny forest, from one end of the island to the next. It took them around an hour for a one-way trip, and they were both exhausted by the time they reached the opposite side.

"Like I said," Katara panted, sliding down with her back to a large tree trunk. "Nothing."

He merely nodded, unwilling to accept defeat but still too prideful to admit he had been wrong. He sat down next to her in the mud. "This is bad."

"Can't you light a fire or something?"

"Nothing will burn in this wet," he retorted, giving her a _gosh-you're-stupid_ look. "Can't _you_, like, bend the water around us or something?"

"I can," she said, "but then I'd have to stay up the rest of the night to concentrate on it."

"You do that," said Prince Zuko, getting into a comfortable position. "and I'll be sleeping."

A slew of unnaturally large raindrops splashed onto his head.

"Stop it!" he snapped, trying to shake the extra water off. "My plan makes sense! We can both be dry, and at least one of us will get some sleep!"

"How about my plan," she gritted through her teeth. "_I _stay dry, while _you_ just stay wet!"

"Fine! Now shut up so I can get some sleep," he said, lying down. The coconut fronds above him provided the tiniest relief from the constant downpour. He looked over and saw that the rain slid away from an invisible shield above her head. "Selfish," he muttered.

"I hope a coconut drops on you in your sleep."

"I hope the island floods and the fish monster comes and eats you."

"_I'll_ personally drop that coconut on you!"

----

Katara had drifted off a few hours before dawn, relinquishing her hold on her "umbrella" and giving way to sleep.

When she woke up, the rain had let off and the sun was just beginning to warm the island.

She glanced over to her side and saw the Prince still dosing next to her, barely touching her back. His face was relaxed, completely free in his sleep, and he was lying on his side, the scar hidden. He looked so... innocent.

It must be a trick of the light.

Katara elbowed him, a bit roughly, trying to dispell the sentimental thoughts from her mind. "Get up," she said.

Zuko made some kind of mmrphgh noise before blinking his eyes open. "Mmm... what?"

"Morning."

He sat up, wiping the sand and dirt from his face. "What are we going to do today?"

She shrugged, standing up and stretching. "Dunno. Wait for rescue. Find more food."

"Clams again?"

Katara ignored him and said, "We should also build a shelter."

"Why?" he stood up and copying her stretch. "It's already stopped raining."

Katara pointed at the sky. "See those clouds? Bet you anything it'll rain again tonight."

He looked, and nodded. "Good idea."

----

They spent the entire morning dragging broken branches and small pieces of driftwood back to their clearing. It was hot, sweaty work, searching for just the right pieces and then trying to figure out how to fit them together. They planned, and failed, and swore at each other, and yelled in frustration. Finally, they achieved some sort of standing structure that had the larger pieces propped against a tree trunk, filled in and supported by smaller pieces of wood.

"It needs more of a covering," said Katara, inspecting the result of their work. "A semi-roof. Or else it won't help at all once the storm comes back."

Zuko looked up above their heads. "The coconut leaves. If we get enough of them, we could cover the whole thing in that."

Soon, he'd scaled the rough, handled trunk and began to saw through the thick stems with his knife, before dropping them back onto the ground. "Catch these! Don't let them fall to the ground, or we'll have dirt all over our heads tonight."

Katara scowled and ran around under him, catching the spiny greenery as it dropped out of the sky. It poked her in the face and scratched her and eventually built up in a large pile she struggled to keep up. "Why do _I _have to hold this?" she complained to him, trying to see beyond through the leaves. "Why can't _I_ climb the tree and do the cutting?" She was dirty and the leaves itched and she hadn't gotten enough sleep last night. Bad mood.

Zuko, perched in the tree, wasn't much better off. It was hot, and there were _bugs_ up here crawling all over him. "Be quiet," he yelled back down. "Aren't you a little low on the food chain to be whining?"

"Food chain?" she grumbled to herself before raising her voice to him. "Food chain? There is no food chain! There's us and the coconuts!"

"No," he retorted, slicing off another stem and throwing it down, meanly satisfied when she yelped and stumbled to catch it. "There's me, the coconuts, and _then_ you."

She threw the leaves to the ground and stomped out of the clearing.

"Hey!" he yelled after her. "Hey! It's going to be _your_ fault when you wake up with bugs in your hair!"

"At least I _have_ hair!" she screamed back.

Zuko flinched inwardly. Now _that_ had been uncalled for.

----

Katara looked up to see Zuko coming out of the forest towards her. She was kneeling in the sand again, elbow deep, digging for clams.

"Come over here," she said, scrabbling for a clam and tossing it away when she saw it was an empty shell. "and help me. Or else you won't be eating tonight."

He stood over her, glaring down at the three clams next to the hole. "The deal was you give me water _and_ food, and I'd give you fire and protection. Food is your job."

So he was _still_ throwing a hissy-fit over her comment earlier this morning? Her lips thinned. "Fine," she said. "Food is my job."

He nodded, satisfied, and stomped back to the forest. Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation wasn't going to be grubbing around in the dirt like a comomoner.

Katara dug out one more clam, before standing up and kicking the sand back into the hole she'd made. Whoops. Only four clams for tonight, barely enough to feed _one_ person. Too bad.

----

"What do you mean, there's not enough for me?" He had come back from his bathroom trip to find her baking four measly little clams in the fire he'd already built.

Katara smiled sweetly up at him, "Couldn't find any more. They're getting fast. Must be learning that we're hungry."

She carefully picked the opened clams from the fire. "Too bad for you," she added in a sing-song voice, swallowing the first one.

He gaped at her, shocked at the fact that she was... _mean_ enough to do something like this! And after he'd already built her the fire! How foolish of him. He should have waited until he'd been sure she'd gotten enough food for the _both_ of them.

And he was _damn_ hungry.

Katara caught the look on his face and stood up hurriedly, catching the clams in the lap of her robe. "I'll go enjoy these in peace."

He made a leap for her, but she evaded him, dashing behind a coconut tree. Katara pried open a second clam and quickly swallowed it down hot. "_So_ good."

Zuko swung around the tree trunk, but she was already away, and smacking her lips after the third clam. "I love to eat."

One left. His stomach growled.

Zuko let off a fiery blast at her left side, deliberately missing; she screamed and dodged the other direction. He'd been ready for this, and immediately intercepted her path of flight. She yelped, twisting away, but he leaned forward with her and they went down, slamming to the ground with him on top. Katara cried out as her breath _whooshed_ out of her; he caught her wrists and attempted to scrabble away the remaining clam, which she quickly covered with her torso by scootching over it.

All of a sudden she stilled under him and said, "Get off of me."

He realized their compromising position but he was _so hungry_, he'd been building that stupid shelter all day without any food and _damn _it-

Katara shoved her elbow into his face and he yelped without relinquishing his hold on her. She did it again, and he gave it up, rolling away, knowing his cheek would be bruised by morning.

She stood up, glaring daggers at him. "I told you to get off."

He stared back, and said icily, "You flatter yourself. If I'd wanted to do anything of that kind to you, I would have done it already."

"And _I_ would have knocked you out so fast-"

"Shut up," he said tonelessly. "You act like you're so tough but you're not. You and that idiot brother of yours, the one who thinks he's a _warrior_."

"You don't know what you're talking about-"

"We _both_ know you don't stand a chance against me," he said, staring at her from his sitting position, but somehow still managing to seem so much bigger, "so give me the food now, hold up _your_ end of the deal, and we won't have any other problems."

Katara's face was shocked, terrified; but then a frozen mask slid over her features and she tossed the grimy clam at his feet. "_Help yourself_," she snarled, before turning her back on him and walking away.

Zuko ate it slowly, and tried to ignore the bad taste it left in his mouth.

* * *

**A/N:** Want it to go just a bit darker, like the end here, or keep it light and funny? I can go both ways. This story is really all about making you guys happy so... opinions, please.

**Couldn't Katara have tried to catch a fish with her Waterbending like she did in the first episode? And second, does Katara know how to heal in this one? I noticed she didn't insta-fix Zuko after his little scrape with the shark or whatever it was. -Pyro Eclipse**  
Hm. True on both points; I personally just forgot all about catching with the Bending skillz (it's been SO LONG since I've watched the first eppy) and as for the healing part, I had this scene in my head _before_ I found out about Kat's insta-fix powers, so I just decided to make it stay that way. XD Glad you're back.

**happy...early birthday - Katuko**  
Yesh indeedy, thanks. My birthday is on Nov10!

**So I shall assume that (does she think scar ugly?) means "Zuko wondered if Katara saw his scar as everyone else had seen it--a cruel, ugly mark of the shame he had deserved for being so disrespectful of his father's soldiers" but not in as many words. -gladdecease**  
You hit the nail right on the head.

**Prince 'I-Can't-Even-Take-A-Flesh-Wound' Zuko. This one reminded me of Monty python "Tis only a flesh wound! Come here and I'll bleed on you!" Ah, good times. -kuposan**  
MONTY PYTHON RULES LIKE WHOA!111!11!1eleventyone!11!1!

** You lived in Taiwan? AWESOME! what is it like there? -sonamyfan**  
What is it like? I don't know. It'd take me much more than these two sentences to explain anything and everything I love about it.

I reply more to reviewers at this story than I do at LTE... I dont konw, there's just less pressure overall. I feel like I can relax instead of being all ZOMGINEEDTOUPDATELIKENOW. So instead I waste my time typing these lame-ass answers... heh.

Enjoy.


	7. Chapter 7

**Seven: Redemption**

When Zuko finally made his way back to the clearing, it had begun raining, just as Katara had predicted. He crawled into the low shelter they'd spent all day building, and wasn't surprised to find her already there, curled up in the back against the tree.

She didn't say anything as he scooted in next to her; merely pressed herself against the tree trunk to avoid touching him. Zuko thought about moving closer, _just_ to annoy the hell out of her, but decided against it. At this point, she'd probably scratch his eyes out if he so much as breathed on her.

The silence stretched on, broken only by the gentle pattering of the rain on the coconut fronds above them. A few drops of water slid through, but majority of the inside remained dry. They had done a relatively good job.

Zuko glanced over at Katara quickly. She noticed, and turned her face away.

Fine. He didn't need her forgiveness.

----

Katara woke the next morning to find the Prince's forehead resting on the back of her neck, having slumped over her inside the crowded shelter. Warm, yes; fucking acceptable, no

She didn't waste time blushing or making up scenarios or thinking, "Oh my, what if somebody saw us?" Instead, Katara jabbed her elbow roughly into his chest and said, "Wake up, moron."

He yelped in pain and grumbled something incomprehensible. Katara ignored him and scootched out of their makeshift "house", squinting at the bright sunlight.

Another day in paradise.

She kicked a rock angrily and grinned when it ricocheted off something inside the tiny hut.

"Hey!" snapped the Prince. "Watch it!"

He deserves it for threatening me, she thought to herself.

When he emerged, she w as obscenely happy to see a large, egg-sized bruise forming on his previously unmarked cheekbone.

"Don't do that again," he said, rubbing his shoulder.

Katara turned her back on him and left.

----

Prince Zuko followed her as she went to get a drink of water from the coconuts. She ignored him and didn't react when he yelled at her for drinking all of the fresh water.

Zuko followed her when she climbed a coconut tree to bring down the fruit for her breakfast. She pretended like he wasn't there when he scolded her for not getting him one. In the end, he had to scale the tree himself and get his own coconut. "You could have gotten enough for the both of us while you were up here," he muttered to her back as she walked away.

He jumped down, trying to break open his coconut and track her footsteps at the same time. She walked into the densest part of the forest, and when he continued to follow her, she threw a rock at his head before untying the sash on her robe.

Zuko went red and strode a few steps farther away, his back turned to her. "You could have just _told_ me what you were going to do," he muttered.

No answer.

He was stupid to expect anything else.

But really, the silent treatment? How immature.

Well, it was fucking working. Zuko was getting more and more pissed of by the minute, to the point where he felt like tearing out his hair in frustration.

Haha.

When he judged that sufficient time had passed, Zuko peeked over his shoulder.

She was gone.

"Damn it," he swore. Had it all been trick? Most likely; he hadn't heard the sounds that usually accompanied the releasing of human waste. She wasn't enough of a barbarian to do something like that when he was less than ten feet away. She'd probably just used it as an excuse to throw something hard and painful at his head.

And to escape.

----

Katara watched Zuko fumble around and throw his hands up in frustration when he finally realized she'd disappeared. She crouched behind him in the foliage, having circled around him while his back was turned.

She decided to hide from him for the rest of the day. She'd put up with him long enough. See how he liked it, being stuck with nobody but Prince Zuko for company.

----

Zuko spent the entire day trying to find her. He looked everywhere; in the trees, on the beaches, in the water.

He stumbled through sticky tree sap, calling her name. He combed the sand dunes, convincing himself that she must be beyond the next hill, beyond the next curve. He scanned the water, hoping that she'd run out of breath and pop her head up for air again.

As the sun set Zuko began to worry that the Avatar had come while he wasn't looking and rescued Katara. The bison was gigantic and not easily missed, but maybe while Zuko had been busy sticking his head behind trees or crawling through piles of rough sand, the Avatar and his friend had come and taken Katara to safety.

The idea began to take over his mind that he was the only one left on the island.

Fear gripped him and wouldn't let go.

----

The Prince kicked frustratedly at the sand; a pile of it flew up before being blown away by the wind. She tried not to laugh as he sputtered, the grainy stuff getting in his eyes and irritating him. She tried to hold the giggles in at the comical sight; her foot caught in a sand dune and she fell forward, cursing.

Katara scrambled back up again and ran into the forest, but not before she saw Zuko spin around and fix her with a narrowed stare.

Damn. Her entire plan had been ruined!

----

Zuko caught sight of the end of her braid and a swish of blue cloth before she disappeared completely again. How was she so damn _fast_? There was no point in chasing after her. She would just escape somehow again. He couldn't catch her and tie her down in order to keep her in his sight. The Water bender would take it in the worst possible way.

Besides, at least now he knew she was still here.

Dropping to his knees in the sand, he knew there was only one way he could redeem himself.

He began to dig.

----

Katara sat by the unlit campfire. Much as she had enjoyed playing keepaway with the Prince, once night and darkness had set in, the island was less welcoming and more... foreboding. She preferred to stick to places she knew at night, rather than wander around and risk tripping and breaking her neck. Even though she would have to put up with that Prince.

She heard a rustle near the edge of the clearing. Looking up, she saw the Prince. He looked dirty and his clothes were covered with sand. He was carrying something in his arms, and had a decidedly... _satisfied_ expression on his face.

Katara was wary; he looked much too confident for comfort.

He strode up to her and dumped a dozen or more clams onto the ground before lighting the fire in one quick stroke.

She stared at the food, and then up at him in amazement.

Zuko looked away, taking a stick and pushing the clams into the fire. They both sat there for long, silent minutes. Katara was too surprised to say anything, and Zuko was waiting for her reaction.

When they popped open, steaming, Zuko divided exactly half for her and half for himself. They ate quickly, and finished by piling all the empty shells next to the fire.

He was almost bursting with impatience when she finally spoke up.

"Come over here," she patted the ground next to her. "Let me check your shoulder again."

And all of a sudden he didn't hurt so much anymore.

* * *

**A/N:** In a Crocodile-Hunter-Australian accent: 

"And here, children, we are getting a rare shot of the the species, _Fireus Princeius_, conducting his annual mating ritual in order to catch the attention of a prime female specimen, a _Benderus __Waterus_. Oh, how painful, his first attempt is recieved by the haughty wave of a brown braid from the _Waterus_, and... is this possible?... the _Princeius _has been rejected!"

"He tries again, a desperate attempt to catch her before the mating season is over and the _Avatarus_ returns to assert his dominance over the world. The _Princeius_ brings a gift, a spectacular present that will definitely catch the eye of the _Benderus_ _Waterus. _Watch closely, folks, watch closely as she scoots closer and... YES! she has accepted the gift! Score one for the _Fireus Princeius_! Now the _Waterus_ begins her own acceptance ritual, a tender movement of care and affection towards the _Pinceius! _She has been wooed and _Fireus Princeius_ is successful!"

I'm so sorry. I had to get that out of my system. Most of you voted for a majority of comedy/light/fluff, with just a tiniest mix of darkness in there sometimes. Gotcha.

** You helped me convert someone from Katang to Zutara! Doesn't that just make you all "giggly" inside? -Chickygurl- **  
It does! And I would never tell you to "fuck off". Your opinion matters and I have taken it into account. XD


	8. Chapter 8

**Eight: Pirates! Part I  
**

When Zuko woke up there was a sword point brushing his nose.

He looked down the length of it to see a young man grinning at him. There were four other men behind the one holding the sword; all of them smiling satisfactorily.

"Arrgh," said the stranger, brown eyes laughing.

Zuko swallowed nervously, and he said, "Mind moving the pointy end away from my face?"

"Why?" asked the young man, obviously enjoying this. "It's not like I can make it any worse than it already is, Prince Zuko."

_Ouch_, Zuko thought silently, and tried to keep himself from blowing anything up at this insult to his already-damaged ego.

"Are you threatening me?" asked Zuko angrily. "What do you want?" He shifted ever so slightly to the right to cover Katara, who was still inside the shelter; the sword followed him. Hopefully these rogues hadn't discovered the Water bender's presence yet. She was still sleeping, as far as Zuko could tell.

"Don't bother," the stranger said carelessly. "I already know she's back there."

"Who are you?" Zuko demanded.

"Arrgh," the brown-eyed man repeated. "Can't you tell I'm a pirate? I would have expected more brains from the famous Prince of the Fire Nation, however dishonorable you are rumored to be."

Zuko stared at him. He didn't look very… threatening. Except for the part about the sword in the face. But that was only uncomfortable.

"We have nothing of value," Zuko said, stalling for time. "Nothing you would want."

The pirate cocked his head to the side, waving a bit with his sword. "Move over. Let me see the girl."

"I said, we haven't got—"

The sword flicked faster than his eye could follow and all of a sudden there was blood dripping from a shallow cut in his cheek. "I said move."

Zuko swallowed. Nothing he could do. If he firebended, then the pirate would react and spear him through on reflex; better play it safe first and do what he said.

"Wake her up," said the pirate, enjoying himself.

Zuko scooted to the side, one hand resting on Katara's foot. "Wake up," he said, shaking her. "Wake up."

Katara opened her eyes and screamed, an ear-splitting shriek that made all the men in the clearing wince.

"Shut her up!" yelled the pirate, covering his ears. "Shut her up!"

Zuko took this chance that Katara had given him and slammed two fireballs into the stomachs of the men in front of him; he moved fast, getting to his feet and turning around to blast the leader—

Who was holding his sword to Katara's throat.

"Stop with the fire," said the pirate, in a conversational tone, "or she gets it."

Zuko dropped his fists. Katara glared at him silently. _You messed it up_, she mouthed to him.

_Not my fault!_ he mouthed back.

"If you're done communicating through secret lip signals," said the pirate, "then maybe we can get on to discussing the terms of our pending agreement."

"Agreement?" Zuko said out loud, breaking eye contact with Katara. "What agreement?"

"The one where _I_ get whatever I want, and _you_ do whatever I say," answered the pirate.

"Sounds fair," Katara gritted through her teeth.

"Come calmly with us back to our ship," the pirate said to Zuko. "Or I'll slice her throat open." Katara was held back against the chest of the pirate, her head forced upwards by the sword beneath her throat. It made Zuko twitchy just to see her in that position. One wrong slip and…

Zuko shrugged, putting on an 'I-don't-give-a-damn' look. "No," he said.

Katara's eyes widened in shock and disbelief. "_What_?" she hissed.

"I don't care what you do to her," Zuko said, kicking dirt with his foot. "She doesn't matter to me."

The pirate's eyebrows lifted. "Oh, really?"

"When I get my hands on you—" Katara screeched, lunging forward, and stopping before she cut her own throat open.

"Really," Zuko answered, shrugging his shoulders again carelessly. "She doesn't mean a thing to me."

"You wouldn't mind if I sliced her head from her neck?" asked the pirate curiously.

"Nah," Zuko flicked an imaginary piece of dust from his sleeve.

"You wouldn't mind if I took her and did something... _indececent_ with her?"

"Not particularly," Zuko drawled. Katara's eyes bugged out. He tried to keep his fist from trembling.

"Get him," the pirate ordered his minions.

The men leapt for him, but Zuko fended them off with fire blasts, backing away into the forest. Katara stared, horrified, as he turned and dashed away, leaving her alone in the clearing with a pack of pirate men.

"Well, girlie," said the pirate behind her. "I guess it's just you and us, now."

----

"Who are you?" the pirate asked her, tying her to a spear stuck in the sand on the beach. She glared at him. "What are you doing on a deserted island with the Prince of the Fire Nation?"

"I'm his babysitter," she snapped back.

The pirate laughed.

"It's the truth," she said. "I feed him, I clean up after him, I get him cold water to drink, I—"

"Sleep with him?"

"No!" she yelled, straining against her bonds. "You disgusting jerk!"

The pirate laughed again, and one of his sailors came up behind him with a plate of some food. Their ship was beached on the sand, not too far off. A campfire was being set up, near Katara's position. Obviously they were planning on staying until they captured Zuko again.

"It's the answer that makes the most sense," said the pirate thoughtfully, spearing piece of meat and stuffing his mouth. "He took you here because you're his secret lover, and he doesn't want anybody to find out about your forbidden love!" The pirate winked at her. "Isn't that right?"

Katara stared at him. "That's the most messed-up thing I've heard in awhile," she said disdainfully.

The pirate shrugged. "He'll be back for you, don't worry."

"I'm_ not_," Katara snapped. "I don't need him."

Before the pirate could answer, one of his sailors came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey boss," he grunted, "Where should we put the cargo?"

Katara and 'the boss' both glanced over at the pile of crates that was slowly building on the beach, recently offloaded from the pirate ship.

"What pirates _always_ do," the leader said, sighing with a 'duh' note in his voice. "We _bury_ our treasure!"

----

Zuko watched Katara and the pirate from behind the trees. They seemed to be talking- or, rather, the pirate leader was doing the talking, and Katara was snapping and glaring at him. Good for her.

As far as Zuko could tell, the pirate hadn't tried anything... _funny_ with Katara yet. They were obviously using her as bait to lure him back out onto the beach.

Zuko needed a plan.

----

"What do you want him for?" Katara asked the pirate.

"Money," the pirate shrugged. "Important guy like him will fetch a nice, heavy ransom. He's been missing awhile. His people, namely the Dragon of the West, are desperate to find him."

Katara wondered if Aang and Sokka were still searching for her, the way Zuko's uncle was searching for him. She changed the subject.

"What's in those crates over there?" she asked.

"Treasure," the pirate answered easily.

"Gold?" she peered through the dimming light at the stack of boxes and barrels. "Gold and jewels?"

"Something better," the pirate grinned, using his sword to pry open the crate nearest him. Katara watched interestedly.

The pirate reached in and pulled out... a bottle.

"Rum!" he said triumphantly, pumping the bottle into the air, amber contents inside sloshing. "The only thing a real man needs," he proclaimed, before adding, "besides food and women, of course."

Katara sputtered. "You're no pirates! You're just... you're just thieves and smugglers!"

The thief/smuggler frowned. "Hey. I can do pirate-y things. Burning and pillaging and ravishing and all that."

Katara raised one eyebrow.

"I could if I _tried_!"

She sighed and settled as comfortably into the sand as her bonds would allow for. _Zuko you ass,_ she thought silently. _Defeated by rum-smuggling thieves_._ Some Fire Prince _you_ are_.

The fake pirate took a swig from his bottle. "Want some?"

She made a disgusted face.

"Don't like rum? I've got beer, and ale, and vodka, and some pretty good wine, liquor-"

"Cocktails?"

"-no cocktails, but I could try to cook up some of my own-"

"I was kidding," Katara sighed.

----

"I need to pee," said Katara.

The pirate was picking his teeth with the point of his knife. She kept hoping he'd slip and accidentally ram the thing through the back of hi throat.

"So pee," he answered her, playing along.

"Not here!" she was aghast.

He rolled his eyes before circling around her and cutting her ropes loose. "Don't try anything funny," he warned her.

She stood up, rubbing her wrists and trying to get her knees to work again. Katara stepped into the forest, the pirate following close behind. "You're not coming with me, are you?" she said, trying to stall for time. _Come on, Zuko. This is your chance_.

"And risk having you escape back into the arms of your true love?" the pirate snorted. "You think I'm stupid?"

Katara muttered, "Fine. But turn around."

"If I don't hear the right noises, pissing and all that, I'm turning around and I don't care if you're not ready-"

"Okay, okay," Katara snapped. The pirate was much smarter than Zuko had been. The same trick wouldn't work on him. So she had to do it, gritting her teeth as her cheeks flushed. The pirate chuckled.

"Shut up," she glared at his back.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about, the call of nature," he answered.

She retied her robe and stood back up. "I'm decent," she said tightly.

"Let's go," the pirate wasted no time in getting them back to the beach. The sailors were lounging around next to the ship, bright lights illuminating loud laughter and some music.

"Actually," Katara said, as they neared the campfire, "I think I'll have some of that rum you offered me earlier."

The pirate grinned. "Knock yourself out," he said, indicating the half-full bottle in the sand with his chin.

She bent down to pick it up from the sand; the pirate stooped to pick up the rope with which to tie her hands again.

Katara's hand tightened on the neck of the bottle, and she whirled up and around, aiming for his head-

He slammed her down onto the sand, landing on top of her with a knife held to her throat. She shrieked, the bottle rolling away from her hand. She could feel the ice-cold metal against her vein.

"I've been good," the pirate whispered in her ear. His weight was crushing her. "I've played the fool with you. Joking, laughing. I really am a pretty nice guy, don't you think?"

Katara concentrated on breathing evenly.

The knife pressed closer. "_Don't you think?_"

"Yes," she managed through trembling lips.

"I can be nice," he continued. "But you won't stop me from getting what I want. I love making friends and smiling at pretty girls, but I love my money more. Smuggling alcohol makes a neat profit, but I. Need. More." he breathed, and she felt her cheek burn.

"I need that Prince of yours, and you're going to help me get him, understand?"

Katara tried not to cry.

"_Understand?_"

She was about to nod, but stopped herself. It would have been suicide. "Yes," she managed to squeak out again.

The knife slid lovingly across her throat, and then down to her collarbone.

"Now we wait," he crooned softly.

----

Zuko decided to wait out the pirates; they had to leave eventually once they ran out of food, and when they did, Zuko would get Katara back. If they tried to take her with them, then he'd fight them while they were weak from hunger!

He was _so_ smart, he surprised even himself sometimes!

He sat down to wait out the night.

Then Zuko heard a female scream from the beach and he whirled around, peering through the leaves. What he saw made his eyes widen in horror.

That pirate bastard!

What was he doing—what was he doing on _top_ of Katara!

Zuko saw her struggle briefly, then still when the pirate held some silvery metal to her neck. A knife.

He was going to… the pirate was going to _dishonor_ her!

This created an interesting dilemma. Zuko wanted to keep with his original plan, but obviously Katara was in some sort of danger. There were two options.

Zuko could sit here and do nothing (the easy option)... or he could run out there, risking his life and freedom, and attempt to _rescue_ her from the pirates, like those handsome, honorable heroes in fairy tales always did (the hard option).

It would benefit me to rescue her, Zuko thought to himself. If I don't, she'll probably get mad at me later and refuse to feed me again.

Alright. Decision made.

Letting out a cry of rage, Zuko burst from the foliage, flaming fists raised to attack.

----

"He's coming," the pirate whispered, sounding delighted. "He's coming. He's seen us."

Out of the corner of her eyes, Katara could see the other pirate sailors grinning in anticipation and moving to intercept Zuko.

Taking a chance and risking her neck (literally), Katara opened her mouth and screamed, "Zuko! The crates! Get the crates!"

The pirate above her gave her a confused look.

Zuko was utterly confused. Crates? Then he saw them piled on the beach, next to a hole the sailors were digging. The boxes were obviously full of some sort of precious treasure, what with the way the sailors leaned against them, muttering to each other. Some of them had even fallen asleep on the crates, probably to protect them all the better.

Ah. _Now_ he understood. If Zuko tried to destroy the treasure, then the pirates' attention would be fixated on that disaster, while he and Katara escaped!

Katara was _so_ smart, she surprised even _him_ sometimes!

Turning around, Zuko let off an impressive blast of fire from his hands towards the towering crates.

He was completely unprepared for what happened next.

----

_BOOM!_

The entire beach lit up in a maelstrom of light, heat, and flying wood.

Zuko screamed before hitting the sand. He hoped no one had heard him.

Katara and the pirate leader were both blown back by the force of the blast; he landed a few feet away from her, and when her head stopped ringing and the world stopped spinning, Katara realized she was free.

Getting shakily to her feet, she stumbled over to where Zuko lay face down in the sand. She rolled him over roughly, slapping his face and yelling, "Zuko! Zuko are you alright?" She checked him for cuts from sharp, broken glass. No blood. She checked him for bruises caused by wood planks from the blasted crates. No bruises.

"What's wrong with you?" she cried, bending over to peer anxiously into his face. "Get up!" Katara pounded his chest with her fists. "Don't die! You can't die!" She felt like screaming. She hadn't expected the blast to be so big. What if she'd killed him indirectly? What if he died because of her? Katara slapped him in frustration. "Get up, you numbskull!"

"If you stop hitting me," he coughed, "I might be able to survive just a little longer."

"You're alive!" she shrieked, lunging for him. "You're alive, you're alive, you're alive, you're alive alive alive-"

In the middle of her tirade she kissed him on the cheek.

He was still frozen when she yanked on his arm to pull him up from the sand.

"Get up," she said urgently. "We gotta hide before the pirates recover."

The aforementioned pirates were groaning on the beach, trying to regain their sense of balance and reorient themselves. The pirate leader, stumbling up, saw his beloved 'treasure' in a heap of burning wreckage, and let out a scream of anger. He whirled, and his eyes fixated on Zuko and Katara.

"Get them!" he yelled shrilly, pointing his sword wildly in their direction. "_Get them!_"

"Let's go," said Zuko, and grasping Katara's hand, yanked her into the forest after him.

* * *

**A/N:** I promised myself this would be a story with SHORT chapters but this one ended up being quite long. It was longer originally, but then I decided to split the Pirate Sequence into two parts. Yes, yes, many references to Pirates of the Caribbean, rum and all that. I've never personally blown up a gigantic pile of alcohol, so I have no idea how that goes. Maybe one of you should try it, report back to me on the results, and then I'll fix any discrepancies I've written in. 

Thank yous to: amurderofcrows, who suggested the pirate idea. eviltallestjac, for Katara-captured-by-pirates-rescued-by-Zuko. Rashaka and manarunigha's ideas are not forgotten; this is only Part I of the pirate sequence.

Some clinging/embracing/kissing/petting is on the way. Hopefully.

Yay for Q & A time!

**Fireus Princeius, Benderus Waterus, and Avatarus! You been feeling okay? -Queen of the Leos**  
Waah! XD If you count staying up late to write this crap, I guess so! (It's 1am where I am!)

**Seriously, for someone that learned English as a second language, you curse like a high-schooler in the US -shieldmaidenofeorlingas**  
I _am_ a high-schooler in the US.


	9. Chapter 9

**Nine: Pirates! Part II**

They crashed into the forest, Zuko in the lead, yanking Katara behind him.

"Where will we hide?" Katara gasped, trying not to stumble. "There's nowhere they won't be able to find us on this island!"

"Just shut up and keep running!" he snapped back at her.

Katara grated at his demanding tone. But behind her, she could hear the approaching shouts of the angry pirates.

"They're catching up!" she panted.

Ahead of them, Zuko could see glimmering torchlight through the trees. And there, to the right, and the left!

"Shit!" he swore, making a sharp turn, trying to pull them through a gap between two groups of pirates. They had circled around them, effectively trapping him and Katara.

"What do we do now?" Katara said, coming to a stop behind him.

Zuko thought quickly. They were trapped, with no way out, no escape. Flight was gone, which left only-

"Fight," he said resolutely, shifting into a ready position.

There was a shocked silence behind him followed by a stinging slap to his head.

"You don't help me win by _hitting_ me!" he snarled, rubbing his skull.

"Are you crazy?" she hissed. "It's like fifty million against two! We'll never succeed!"

"I'd rather die fighting," he answered her bravely, straightening up, "than running like a coward."

"Who said anything about _dying_?" she screeched into his ear. He winced. "You go right ahead and _die,_ you miserable excuse for a human being! I'm—I'm going to... I'm going to..." her voice trailed off uncertainly.

"Going to what?" he said acidly, and heard a rustle of leaves behind him.

When he turned around, she was gone. He searched blindly for her in the darkness. "Katara?" he called, trying not to sound worried. "Katara?"

A hand shot out of the bushes in front of him and gripped the front of his shirt, yanking him to the ground. He hit the dirt, and something soft, and groaned slightly.

"Shut up," she hissed, breath tickling his ear. "Or you'll give our position away!"

"I thought you said we wouldn't be able to hide—"

"We'll hide as long as we need to until we make another plan!" she answered him, hand twisted at his collar.

He shifted, and realized he was half on top of her. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. They were squashed underneath a bush, against the trunk of a tree.

"They're coming closer," she murmured, body tensing.

He could feel her breath on his face, and one of his arms was around her waist.

The angry cries of the pirates approached. "And closer," she said nervously, other hand clenched on his sleeve.

Zuko leaned in, so he brushed her neck, and then up the line of her jaw, to her cheek—

"They're gonna kill us!" she trembled, and then booted feet rushed by them, so close that one of them stepped on the end of Katara's braid. She squeaked, twisted her head away, and his lips brushed over hers—

She broke away and punched him.

"Shit," he swore, rolling off.

A sword sliced through the leaves above their heads.

Zuko slapped a hand over Katara's mouth.

----

"I can't believe we were almost captured," Katara hissed, face pressed into the dirt, "because of your stupid hormones."

Zuko said nothing, just stared up, through the bush, at the full moon. She slid a bit farther away from him.

"I don't even _want_ to know what you were thinking when you ambushed me," she continued, "because I'd probably be scarred for life then."

Zuko wished Katara would just stop talking.

"It really doesn't help that we _are_, in fact, trying to hide from dangerous pirates," she fumbled, "and all _you_ could think about was—was—"

"Sex?" Zuko interjected dryly, his tone of voice making it clear that he was being sarcastic.

Katara kicked his knee, hard. He grimaced in pain but made no other noise.

"Aren't we," he gritted through his teeth coldly, "supposed to be quiet so we don't get discovered by the pirates?"

"I hate my life," she said, rolling over so her back faced him.

----

Some time during the night Katara drifted off.

Zuko stayed awake, listening to the frustrated sounds of the pirate search party.

Around midnight, he heard a cannon shot.

Sitting straight upright, he stared through the darkness of the forest.

Another cannon shot. Then a blast of fire. And then frightened screams.

Perhaps… perhaps the pirates were rebelling against their leader? A mutiny? An internal civil war?

Whatever it was, Zuko hoped they killed each other off.

Lying back down, he scooted a bit closer to Katara.

It took awhile, but eventual the sounds of fighting died off.

He didn't know he'd fallen asleep.

----

In the morning the beach was empty.

"Where did they go?" Katara stared at the sand, devoid of everything but the remains of the blown-up alcohol crates. "Did they just… leave?"

"Apparently," said Zuko, squinting his eyes in the sunlight.

"I don't believe it," she said. "I bet they're trying to trick us or something."

The two made a full circle around the tiny island. There was no ship on the horizon, no secret ambush waiting to jump out at them. They were alone. Again.

Zuko shrugged. "I believe what my eyes tell me."

Katara turned an incredulous face to him. "This is impossible! Don't tell me you really think that they just gave up and _left_!"

"Well,_ I _don't see them anywhere," he snapped, "Do you?"

Katara wasn't looking at him--instead, she stared off into the distance, over the ocean. "I'm going to make another circle around the island again."

She strode off, leaving dark footprints behind on the wet sand.

Zuko growled low, before giving it up and following her. He had to make sure she didn't get herself killed somehow.

----

"Well _that_ was certainly a waste of time," Zuko said spitefully, dropping to the sand. "And where are you going _now_?"

Katara was a distance away from him, flitting around the remains of the "pirate treasure".

"I'm trying to see," her voice was slightly muffled as she bent over, shifting through some broken planks and bottles, "if there was any food here that didn't get blown up during your daring rescue mission."

Sounded like a good idea to him. If they were lucky, they'd be able to find something else that would give them a break from those damn coconuts.

He joined her, hefting the waste on the top away so they could search underneath. Zuko came upon a crate, burnt slightly at the corners, but surprisingly whole and undisturbed.

"Hey," he called to Katara, and she looked up. "Hey, look what I found!"

She looked over his shoulder, all of a sudden excited. "Maybe it's bread!"

"Maybe it's a gourmet meal of fried shrimp and beef noodles—"

"Maybe it's mangoes and papayas and—"

Zuko broke open the top.

They stared down at a dozen bottles full of sloshing amber liquid. About half of them were broken and had drained out.

Katara groaned behind him and slapped a hand to her forehead. He reached in, picked up a bottle, and held it up to the light.

"What do you think this is?" he asked, more to himself than anybody else.

Katara, a disappointed expression on her face, shrugged. "Whatever it is, it's not going to help us."

"Think it tastes good?"

She turned back, giving him a suspicious look. "We are _not_ going to get drunk, Zuko."

He ignored her. "I've never had rum."

"Zuko—"

He turned to face her. "Who's going to stop us?"

"That's not the point—"

"Don't tell me you aren't tired of the same coconut juice, the same grimy water, the same fucking clams," he said, popping off the cork of the bottle, "over and over and over again."

"And—and _rum_ is any better?" She was flabbergasted.

"It's a change," he said, and tipped back his head.

Katara watched, hands on her hips, as Zuko doubled over, coughing harshly.

"Serves you right," she said, smirk on her face.

Zuko wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "It's not bad," he said, glaring at her. "Just kind of strong."

"Whatever."

----

She didn't like that look in his eyes- the half drowsy, half bright fever in his gold irises. When he moved closer, she leaned away slightly.

"You should try some," he said, "It makes you feel warm inside. Calm."

"No," she said, crossing her arms over her chest, "I won't be reduced to a glibbering mess by a heathen drink—"

"You'll forget," he said, wavering slightly. He spoke like he hadn't heard her. "You'll forget. No worrying about finding 'nough food or water," he leaned in closer, and she turned her head to the side to avoid breathing in the scent of alcohol on his breath.

Zuko continued, "You'll forget everything, forget right, and honor, and _pain. _Forgetting—orgetting—" he reached up with his free hand, sliding it over her unmarked cheek (so much smoother than his own) "feels _good_."

She held her breath in tightly. Zuko came closer, warm, rum-soaked breath sliding across her face—too dangerous—

She sat up suddenly, startling him, and snatched the bottle from his hand. "Fine," she snapped. "I'll drink a little just to make you stop bothering me."

He smiled as she tipped her head back and gulped it down.

----

When Zuko gulped down his first bottle, he wondered for a brief moment where the Avatar was.

After he finished the second, he wondered if his father missed him.

On his third round, he hoped Katara forgave him for making moves on her last night. She had to understand that he hadn't been thinking clearly--so many days of coconuts and clams and salt-tinged water had done something wonky to his head. Or his hormones.

He could always blame the hormones.

Thinking of this, he turned to the side to check up on her.

She lay on her back, breath coming in shallow heaves, eyes glazed over.

Zuko leaned over her, worried. "Katara?" he slurred. Had she drank too much, too fast? "Katara—you awake?"

Katara groaned and tried to roll over before encountering his body. "Geroff me," she mumbled. "I'm fine—jus' fine."

"Good," he said, eyes half-lidded, watching her reach for her bottle. "Thought you were dead there, fer a second."

"Not dead," she mumbled. "Never dead."

The two teenagers lay under the cold, bright stars in the sun-warmed sand, getting as drunk as possible off pirated alcohol.

Katara drained the last of hers, and reached for another glass, the last in the crate, but Zuko got there before and held it away from her reaching hands.

"Mmm," he said, sing-song voice, "Mine."

"Gimme," she muttered, and her hand drooped. Her hand shifted in the sand, and she lost her balance, landing half on top of him and half off.

Neither of them said anything for awhile. Katara couldn't figure out how to move her limbs again, and Zuko didn't exactly understand what was going on.

"Warm," she muttered. He could feel her breath through his thin shirt. The bottle slipped out of her limp hand and drained onto the sand.

_What a waste_, he thought drowsily, watching it through half-lidded eyes.

She sighed and shifted, scooting closer.

----

On the distant horizon, a metal-hulled ship chugged steadily towards the island. The remains of a smaller, wooden pirate ship littered its deck, and there were new occupants in the brig tonight.

An old man stood at the prow of the Fire Nation ship, staring across the water at the tiny island.

"I'm coming, Zuko," said Iroh.

* * *

**A/N:** I think this chapter is bad. I don't like it at all. Lots of questions, I know, what happened to the pirates, how did Iroh find them, and whatnot. All to be answered in the next chapter.

LTE's giving me a hard time. I'll try to update by the end of this week but no guarantees.

Time to PIMP some Avatar fics I've recently read and really enjoyed. Now for your own reading enjoyment:

**Culture Clash** by Rashaka (3 chapters so far, humor/parody, slight Zutara)

**Everyone Knows That Cooties Don't Exist **by Rashaka (4 chapters, humor/parody, slight Zutara)

**Sokka's Guide to Fixing Your Life and The World** by totallystellar (3 chapters so far, humor/parody)

**The Chosen: Scroll One** by hotspur (7 chapters so far, drama/action/adventure)

**The Ho'Wan Island Carnival **by Vicki So (7 chapters completed, general/romance, Zutara. Plus there's a sequel, Bent!)

Do not email me asking me to pimp your fic when I update. Because it's not going to happen. These are stories I found, or were recommended to me, and I genuinely enjoyed, and want to share with the rest of you. Do not, I repeat, _do not_ review and say "OMFG READ MY FIC LIEK, _NOW_, plz omgwtf kthxbai," because I'll get annoyed, and no, annoying me does _not _make me want to read your story.

Thank you.


	10. Chapter 10

**Ten: I'm Alive  
**

Zuko woke up to the sight of his Uncle Iroh standing over him.

He started, half-lifting off the sand before Iroh quickly put a finger to his lips and motioned him back down, pointing at the still-sleeping girl on Zuko's chest.

Zuko lay back down slowly, the expressions on his face communicating everything to his uncle: _You're Here!_ and, _Thanks For Scaring The Shit Out Of Me!_ before he finally settled on a cross between _What Took You So Long?_ and _Thank You_.

"Don't wake her yet," Iroh whispered, gesturing towards Katara. "Sorry it took so long to find you, Zuko."

Zuko gave his uncle a short nod, "It's alright—"

"But it looks like you had fun while you were waiting, so I guess every thing's okay," Iroh winked.

"Well, no," Zuko took back his earlier statement, "It's _not_ alright," he hissed.

"What do you suggest we do then?" asked Iroh. "Her friends obviously haven't found her yet."

True; the Avatar, his monstrous flying beast, and that wimpy little Water Tribe warrior hadn't shown up yet. Zuko smirked inwardly. This just proved that the Fire Nation was superior in every way, including impromptu rescue missions on deserted islands.

Iroh continued, "So do you want to leave her here and get back to the ship for a hot meal and warm bed? Chef Kwanyin has prepared the most delectable beef stew, I must say—"

His uncle's voice droned on as Zuko realized what rescue meant. It would mean leaving Katara behind to fend for herself as he, the Prince of the Fire Nation, got back on his ship of worldly comforts and left for better things.

Or, it _would_, if he decided to let it happen that way.

"—and in Omashu, I bought this brand-new sauna tub for a bargain price, nephew, just about the most comfortable thing you'll ever soak in—" continued Iroh before Zuko cut him off.

"Uncle. Wait."

"Yes, Prince Zuko?" Iroh gave him a perfectly genial look.

"I—I would rather," was this really such a hard decision to make? "I would really prefer it if we could—if we could stay here until Katara's rescued."

"I see," Iroh nodded acceptingly, but behind those calm gold eyes, Zuko detected something. Pride. Pride in _him_. As if Zuko had passed some sort of test Iroh had set down for him.

Zuko became aware of his own arm wrapped around Katara's waist, keeping her close. Her warm breath ruffled across his shirt and felt slightly ticklish.

"Would you like me to instruct the soldiers to begin setting up camp on the island?"

"No!" Zuko said, catching himself before he woke Katara and lowering his voice. "I mean, no thank you, uncle."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, there's no need for camp or anything. Actually, it would better if everybody just stayed on the ship and didn't come around."

Iroh was slightly confused, and his face showed it. "You don't want us around? What about the beef stew? The new sauna tub?"

Zuko struggled. "I mean, I don't want ­_her_ to know that you're here—"

And all of a sudden Iroh got it. A smile appeared on his face. "You mean, you care enough to stay with her and keep her safe, but you don't want _her_ to know that you care enough to stay here of your own choice."

Zuko gritted his teeth. "Yes."

Iroh's grin split his face. Ahh. The universal obstacle that plagued love-struck young men everywhere: How To Care For Her, But Keep Your Cool Manliness Intact At The Same Time.

He understood _perfectly_.

"I don't like that smile on your face, uncle," Zuko hissed.

Iroh continued to grin without abating.

His very own nephew, caught in the perils of young love.

"She's waking _up_, uncle!"

Holding in the laughter, Iroh quickly removed himself from the beach, tracking his way back through the forest to where the ship was anchored on the other side.

Zuko was never going to live this down.

---

Katara blinked her eyes open, realized her situation, and shot back faster than a flaming fireball. She was frantic, flustered, gaze darting around the beach, taking in the open boxes, the empty bottles of alcohol, Prince Zuko looking as hot as _sin_ with a few more rips in his shirt than she remembered. Her own clothes were still on but you couldn't be positive, what with the compromising position she'd found herself in when she woke up—

"Nothing. Happened." Zuko said, sliding a hand down his face in exasperation. A splitting headache was forming inside his brain; a side effect of the alcohol?

Katara was clearly distrustful of the whole situation. She watched him from a distance like a wary animal.

"Hey," said Zuko, holding his hands out to his sides. "_Nothing happened_."

"And I'm supposed to trust you _why_?" she all but spat at him.

I did not give up beef stew and a hot tub for this, Zuko thought to himself.

"What?" Katara asked. "That expression on your face—what?"

"Nothing," said Zuko, pushing himself off the sand to a standing position. The world rocked around him, and briefly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Iroh's footprints on the unmarked beach below them. Don't look to the side, he begged Katara in his mind.

"You're wobbling pretty badly," said Katara, forgetting her suspicions as her worry for him increased. "Are you okay?"

Feeling the bile rise in his throat, Zuko fell to his knees, clutching his stomach—at the last moment, he made sure to aim for the footprints his uncle had left behind.

He felt Katara hesitantly come up behind him and begin to rub his back in smooth, warm circles and whisper encouragement and comfort in his ears.

So much better than a hot tub, he thought.

Katara looked at Zuko's vomit with disgust.

---

"That was the third time I've seen you throw up," Katara said conversationally, wringing cool sea water from a bit of cloth ripped from the hem of her robe, and laid it over his forehead.

Lying on his back in the warm sand, Zuko sighed.

"The first time was when you woke up and realized we were on this island. You just rolled over and threw up all over the place—"

Zuko felt drowsy; the pain in his head was beginning to lessen with Katara's cool ministrations.

"—and the second time was when you were being stupid and ate those poisonous leaves. Why did you do that? It was really idiotic of you. Do you normally go around chomping on toxic plants? You were so sick after that—"

Zuko had a momentary urge to say something to protect his own intelligence; no, he did _not_ normally go around chomping on strange leaves—it was _her_ fault, actually, for not feeding him.

"—and now this. You're hungover from all that rum you drank. I only have a little headache. Perhaps our bodies handled it differently. I wonder if alcohol has a different effect on Firebender bodies than Waterbender—"

You sure talk a lot, Zuko thought to Katara, since he couldn't seem to connect his brain to his mouth. You talk so much you could drive a man to drink.

Haha. I made a funny.

"—and then completely ruin it by—wait, Zuko, are you falling asleep again? Already?"

Silence.

"Zuko?"

He dreamt of Katara in a hot tub eating beef stew.

---

It was late afternoon, and Zuko was sipping clean freshwater from one of the unbroken bottles they'd emptied during last night's binge-drinking. No more fuzzy coconut shells. They'd upgraded to chipped rum bottles. Nothing as fancy as the solid-gold goblets with the Fire symbol engraved on it back at home—but it was almost like civilization again.

"Do you think," Katara began, poking the clams in the fire, "we'll ever get off this island?"

Zuko choked on his water before spewing it all over the campfire.

"Hey! Watch it—aw, now you've got your saliva all over the clams—and that water took time and work to get, you know."

Zuko's eyes were watering. "Yes. I do think we'll get off this island."

"Soon?"

"Eventually," he replied.

Katara sighed and continued to move the clams around with her stick. "I want to leave."

"Why the hurry?" Zuko replied sarcastically before downing the last of the water in his bottle.

Katara gave him a look. "I have things to do."

"Like what?"

"Helping Aang."

"I have things to do as well," Zuko said, voice surly. "Like _catching_ your little boyfriend."

Katara threw her stick down. "I don't understand why you don't just _leave us alone_!"

She added as an afterthought: "And he's not my little boyfriend!"

Zuko shrugged and refused to meet her eyes. Any other time, he might have enjoyed yelling at her, telling her that _she_ was the one who didn't understand, and maybe even explaining his situation to her.

But now things were too complicated. Stuff had happened between them; stuff that couldn't be forgotten or taken away. Revealing his reasons to her (revealing his _father_, his _shame_) would only further cement the "relationship" they had.

And they couldn't have a relationship.

She scooted closer to him. "Come on. Talk. I know you can't resist a good argument."

"It's not an argument if there's only one person arguing," Zuko said curtly, turning away.

He felt her hand on his shoulder. He could see it out of the corner of his eye: brown, slim, and graceful. A healer's hand.

He could break it so easily with one of his own—grasp and _twist _and gone

The way his nation had crushed her tribes. The way his people had massacred hers. The way his own country's obsession with domination of the future had eliminated her people's way of life.

The way his father had destroyed Zuko's face, his love, his hope.

Turning, Zuko stared at Katara's hesitant, open expression.

And realized that there really was no going back now.

He began to speak.

---

Afterwards, they lay together on the beach. He'd stopped crying awhile ago. She noticed that he wasn't able to cry out of his left eye; the burn had destroyed, disabled, dried up everything.

She stroked his scar with her light fingertips.

"I could make it gone, you know," she whispered. "I could—right here, right now."

Zuko stilled in everything; breathing, moving, living.

Then he relaxed (life began again) and placed his own hand over hers. "No."

Her fingers stilled on his face, under his hand.

She smiled. "You're right. It wouldn't be the same."

"I don't want it to be," and kissed her palm.

* * *

**A/N:** Warm fuzzies for everyone. Consider this your holiday present from lil' ole me. XDDDDDDD

More pimpage, guys:

**Hearts of Fire** by Dracori (10 chapters so far, Romance/Action/Adventure, Zutara, and this is one of the actually _good_ early original Zutara-bait-fics, a worthwhile read, I say!)

**48th **by Otabe Yatsuhashi (One-shot, Zutara, and will give you many more warm fuzzies/such an original idea! I LOVE IT)

Only two this time because I was gone over break and didn't have much time to read anything. Fear not, this is not the last chapter. There will be more.

(And yes, I'm currently trying to beat some sense into Chapter 19 of LTE--give me some more time. Like two more weeks.)

:dodges bullets:

Review, yarr!


	11. Chapter 11

**Eleven: ****Ginseng Tea**

A slyly smiling Katara unwrapped a towel from around her naked frame, stepping into the steaming hot tub where Zuko was sitting—she floated over, everything from her neck below covered by frothing, foaming bubbles. She held a bowl of savory beef stew in one hand, and he opened his mouth as she raised a spoon to his lips—

An ear-splitting shriek shattered Zuko's dream into a million pieces; he woke, scrabbling about in the sand, and, realizing that Katara wasn't here anymore, took off in the direction of the scream.

"Katara!" he yelled, "Katara, where are you?"

He struggled, panting, as he ran up the side of a sand dune, feet sinking in deep with each step. He was almost at the top, and then he'd be able to save Katara from whatever monster it was that attacked her this time—yes, he could be the hero, he could almost see that loving, admiring look in her face, her face that was turned towards him—

Zuko reached the top of the hill, and, upon seeing the sight that greeted him, let out a veritable shriek of his own.

His uncle stood urinating at the base of a palm tree not a few feet from the bottom of the sand dune where—where _Katara_ stood, mouth gaping open and one finger accusingly pointed at Iroh.

"You! You!" she shrieked, her finger shaking. "You!"

"Oh shit," moaned Zuko, covering his face with one hand.

"Yes?" Iroh replied, calmly buckling up his armor. "Me?"

Iroh's eyes saw the movement Zuko had made at the top of the hill, and flitted quickly up to give his nephew a look. Zuko began to step backwards in the shifting sand, holding his hands up in front of him and head shaking an emphatic _no, no, no_ at his uncle.

Katara caught Iroh's look, and snapped around to look at whatever Iroh was making eyes at behind her. "YOU!" she screamed as she caught sight of Zuko's retreating figure, "OH—DON'T EVEN _THINK_ ABOUT RUNNING AWAY FROM ME, YOU—YOU!"

As Katara took off after Zuko, Iroh smiled to himself, highly amused, and walked over to the waves to rinse off his hands.

---

Katara was still shaking furiously as she sat inside a room aboard Zuko's ship, hands clenched on the surface of the table in front of her. Zuko was very still next to her, eyes unmoving from an interesting stain on the left thigh of his pants.

"Tea?" Iroh offered magnanimously, one hand extended towards the cheerful pink teapot and matching pink-and-white teacups set on the table before them.

"No, thank you," Katara gritted out through her teeth.

Zuko just shook his head.

"I'll have some," Iroh answered his own offer, and moved to pour himself a cup, aromatic steam rising from the brown liquid. "Ahhh, ginseng. What a calming and peaceful scent, don't you think?"

Neither teenager answered.

Everything was silent but for the sound of Iroh sipping.

"All right," said Katara, slamming her hands down flat on the table, causing the teacups to clink together nervously. "I've had enough of this dancing around. You two need to just out and confess, _now_."

Zuko and Iroh gave each other a look.

"Confess?" asked Iroh, "Confess to what?"

Katara narrowed her eyes and leaned forward menacingly. "To this—this _conspiracy_!"

"Conspiracy?" asked Zuko, "What conspiracy?"

"The _conspiracy_," Katara shot to her feet, rattling the teacups yet again, "that you two planned in order to get me on this stupid island!"

"Now, why would we want to do that?" Iroh looked up at her, a genuine expression of confusion on his face.

"It's obvious!" Katara put her hands on her hips and glared down at Zuko, whose gaze was still fixed firmly in his lap. "You wanted to get me to trust Zuko and tell him all about the Avatar!"

"If we wanted information about the Avatar from you," Zuko said bitingly, not making eye contact with her, "there would be much easier ways to go about getting that."

"Like _what_?"

"Torture."

Katara bit her lower lip, slightly taken aback, and shot a quick glance over at Iroh.

Iroh's face betrayed nothing, and he took another sip of his ginseng tea.

"Yes—but—" Katara began, in fact unsure of what she was about to say.

"But nothing," Zuko finished for her. He stood up, much more gracefully and slowly than Katara had, before turning to look her in the face. Katara had to make an effort not to look away. His gaze was disconcerting—too open and bright and golden.

"Believe me," he said calmly, "when I say that this little foray of ours on the island was unplanned on my part. I had no dishonorable intentions towards you. I had no plans to extract information about the Avatar from you." He paused here. "I don't know what happened."

Iroh smacked his lips as he set the teacup back down on the table. "Ginseng—good stuff."

"Well," said Katara, voice considerably softer than before, "what's going to happen now?"

Zuko broke eye contact with her to look at his uncle. Iroh looked back, smiling benignly.

"Right now," Zuko began slowly, as if thinking, "right now, we're going to give you a room so you can clean up—something I'm sure we're both eager to do."

Katara nodded. A bath, in clean, warm freshwater, with soap and bubbles and sweet-smelling things—it would be just like heaven.

"Some food too," Iroh added. "How does beef stew sound?"

* * *

**A****/N: **Ooh, looky, a question and answer session!

**Question:** When are you going to update LTE?**  
Answer:** When you find the epilogue and give it to me. Then I'll post it and everyone will be happy!

**Question:** Why did you, after a year plus of no writing or action on your part whatsoever, update this stupid story and not LTE?**  
Answer: **Because I wanted to.

Thanks for reading. :)


	12. Chapter 12

**Twelve: ****Blackmail**

"So what's the plan?" asked Iroh.

Zuko stared out at the quiet beach of the island from the deck of his ship, hands folded behind his back. "A plan?" he replied, a bit absentmindedly.

Iroh sighed. The older man walked forward until he stood at Zuko's side. "The girl. Katara."

"Katara," said Zuko, in the same slight tone.

Iroh said nothing this time.

"Well," said Zuko, and he sounded firmer now, like he'd come back to earth. He turned to face Iroh. "What do you think?"

"I think," Iroh said slowly, carefully, "I think the best plan would be to take her to a nice little port in the Earth Kingdom, maybe put down some money to rent a small place in a good neighborhood there. She stays. We leave."

Zuko didn't say anything; and then: "She can't stay with us." It wasn't a question. More like a statement of realization.

"That's up to you," said Iroh, "and her."

"No," said Zuko, "she can't stay with us."

And having said this, Zuko strode away from his uncle, taking the stairs down into the depths of the ship.

---

Katara groaned out loud as she leaned back in the tub, propping her feet up on the edge. Wonderful heat, blissfully clean water and soap! Actual soap! She could almost feel the dirt and grime sloughing off her body in thick pieces. She shook her head slightly, combing her fingers through her hair.

A sharp knock on the metal of her door brought her out of her reverie. She started to answer, her voice coming out wispy and soft from the warm relaxation of a true bath—she wrinkled her brow at herself before sitting up straight, clearing her throat, and answering with a firm "Yes?"

"It's Zuko."

She squealed before slapping a hand over her mouth. Towel! Where was the goddamned towel! Bubbles and foam slipping down her form, Katara leapt up and out of the tub, but not before one foot caught on the edge and she fell, _hard_, onto the metal floor of her room. She made a sound that was a combination of a grunt and shriek as she hit the ground, pain exploding in her chin and forearms.

"Katara? Are you alright?"

"Yes!" she managed to work out of her bruised jaw, lifting herself off the ground by the hands "Yes—just one second—hold on one second—"

"Are you sure you're fine?"

"Yes! I'm sure," she squeaked, deciding to completely forgo the towel and pulling on her old blue dress again—she had to force herself not to whimper as she felt the dirt and mud caking her clothing slide across her newly clean skin. She wiped her face dry using her sleeves, grimacing as grains of sand scraped across her cheeks, and patted her dripping wet hair down.

"Okay! You can come in!"

The door slowly opened as a slightly apprehensive-looking Zuko appeared behind it. She watched his face as his eyes took in the scene.

There appeared to be more water on the floor than in the actual bathtub, which still had a few lonely-looking bubbles clinging to its metal sides. Liquid soap was seeping slowly out of a bottle without a cap. Katara stood in the middle of the room, wet hair stuck to her face and soaking the back of her old dress, water droplets still dripping down her legs and arms. A perfectly dry towel sat innocently folded on the cot in the far corner.

"Yeah?" Katara asked a bit breathlessly, using the back of one hand to push a strand of hair out of her face, "What did you need?"

"Uh—I—um," Zuko tried not to stare as Katara's dress clung closely to her damp body. He picked a spot on the wall above her head and stared fervently at it. "I, uh, I was talking to my uncle and we were wondering what you thought, uh, of this plan we had, this plan that—um, about what, what—"

"About what we should do now?" Katara supplied.

"Yeah. Yeah, that."

"You can come in," Katara said, and he complied, shutting the door behind him. It made a very loud noise, he thought to himself. Very loud. Echoing. Ringing in the room. Her room.

"So what's the plan?" she asked, sitting down on the cot, picking up the towel and rubbing at her face frustratedly.

"My uncle thought that you'd want to be reunited with the Avatar as soon as possible. He had this idea that we could drop you off at some Earth Kingdom port, give you some money for a short rent while you contacted your friends."

"Your uncle thought of this?" Katara asked softly, not really looking at him—looking more at a spot on the wall above his head.

"Yes. Yes, he did."

"Well—what do you think?"

"What do I—What do _I_ think?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes," she said, and this time she did look at him. "What do you think."

"I think it's a good idea of my uncle's."

"Is that it?"

He was terribly confused now. "Is—is what it?"

"That's—that's all there is to it?" she was pressing him for something—for something, he didn't know what. It was getting kind of frustrating; what the hell was she talking about?

"Yes. That's it." he said shortly. He thought to himself that he didn't like to be pressured.

She stared at him for a few seconds before breaking eye contact, turning away to rub furiously at her wet hair with the towel. "Sounds good to me," she said, voice gone a bit colder. "Now, if you don't mind, will you let me finish up in here?"

He stood there, trying to think of something good to say. Giving up, he left the room, closing the door behind him. As he walked down the dark hallway, he couldn't shake the distinct feeling that… that he could have done something else. Something more.

---

Katara lay on her cot, facing the wall. Zuko was right. This was all there was to it. This was the end. She'd go back to Aang and Sokka, and Zuko'd go back to being Mr. Angry Fire Nation Prince. It was a role that suited him—he did it very well.

_And I do Miss Awkward Avatar Sidekick quite well too_, Katara thought angrily to herself.

Those were the parts they'd been born to play. A few days on an island meant nothing.

She shrugged the blanket higher over her shoulders and turn her face into the pillow, fighting down an insane urge to cry. The tightening in her throat, the dense pain in her chest—it was all crazy. What the hell was she tearing up for? She wasn't sad! She was angry! She was angry, and the one thing she wanted to do most in the world right now was grab Zuko, pull his face down to her own and—and just, just—

_Hit him!_ Katara screamed silently. _I wish I could—I wish I could __just __hit him!_

Katara was grateful for the soundproof walls of the ship as she finally broke into great heaving sobs.

---

The sky above was bright blue without a single cloud when Katara stepped out onto the deck the next morning. She pulled the blanket tighter around herself—the air was still chilly and a stronge breeze blew across the ship, tangling up strands of her dark hair that had escaped from her customary braid.

"Why good morning, Miss Katara," a cheerful voice came from behind her.

She turned to see Zuko's uncle standing by the railing, hands tucked up in his sleeves. "Good morning to you too," she answered softly.

"We're just getting ready to set sail," he said, turning to look out at the island.

"Oh—already?" Katara asked before she could think about it.

"You wanted to stay longer?" Iroh asked, one eyebrow raised slightly higher than the other as he turned back to look at her.

"No, no, I just—well, no, it's good that we're leaving, I just—well, honestly," Katara clutched her blanket tighter, "Honestly, I don't really know what I'm talking about."

Iroh was silent for a few seconds before he replied, "Well I do."

"You do? You do—you do what?"

"I do know what you're talking about. It's a beautiful island."

It was Katara's turn now to look out across the bit of ocean that separated the ship from the island. She could see a few soldiers on the beach lugging a large crate of what looked like coconuts across the sand.

She smiled briefly. "Yes. It is a very beautiful island."

"Such a shame—it's uncharted, so there's a good chance we won't ever be able to find it again."

"No," said Katara, "No, that's a good thing."

"A good thing?" Iroh inquired.

"Yes. It should remain untouched. Perfect. New."

"Mmm," Iroh nodded now, turning to look at the island as well, "It'd be a real shame if the tourist industry managed to get their grubby little hands on it."

"A real shame," Katara echoed.

"Yes. So I hope you'll forgive me when I sell the coordinates to the next travel agency we find when we get to a port," Iroh gave her a look, and there was a definite gleam in his eye.

Katara stared, shocked and confused. "Wait—_what_?"

"I'm saying I could get a good price from a tourism company for the location of prime real estate such as this," Iroh said, "Unless you'd be willing to strike a deal with me."

Katara's mouth dropped open and stayed that way for about a minute.

"Katara?" asked Iroh, a bit anxiously, "Are you alright?"

"Let's back up," she said, shaking her head a bit, as if to clear her thoughts. "Is this some form of—of blackmail? Are you trying to blackmail me into something, Iroh?"

"Is it working?" Iroh asked, a bit hopefully, "Do you feel obligated or threatened yet?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I feel disappointed, Iroh."

"Oh." His face fell.

"Here I thought you were such a nice man, and then you make such a lame attempt at—at _blackmailing_ me? I don't know what to think anymore!" In truth, Katara was more than a little amused.

"Well anyway," she continued, "I'm still curious to hear when the 'unless' part of your threat was."

"Here's my original plan," Iroh said, brightening up a bit, "I will sell the location of this precious, beautiful little island to some money-grubbing organization _unless_..."

"Unless...?" Katara prodded him on.

"Unless you promise to keep in touch with my nephew."

"Your nephew—oh, you mean _Zuko_?" Katara gave Iroh a very surprised look. "You want me to keep in touch with Zuko?"

"Yes!"

"But—but _why_?"

"Because," Iroh said, beginning a slow walk towards the hatch that led below decks. Katara followed him, still suspicious. "Because I think you're good for him."

"I'm good for him," Katara repeated flatly.

"Well…" Iroh said, shrugging one shoulder, "It's your decision."

"You're very bad at blackmail, Iroh," Katara said, and couldn't help a small smile.

"I guess I'm just not cut out for the darker side of life," Iroh gave her a soft grin back.

_Darker side__ of life_. Katara looked at him for a second—_Dragon of the West, fearsome General of the Fire Nation Army and brother of Lord Ozai, killer of a thousand innocents and __conqueror__ of cities_—"I'll think about it, Iroh," she said.

He gave her a slight bow. "Thank you."

* * *

**A/N:** I'm really sorry that this chapter sucked so much. Thanks again for the reviews! Your comments are all much appreciated.

OH WAIT PS--Check out this _really great story_ called **_Frostbite_**, written by **BlueAugust**. You won't be disappointed. Search it up and read it.

... yeah, if the dickheads running this place haven't got a move on and DELETED IT FOR PLAGIARISM ALREADY. Come on.


End file.
